Jacob Ogles
From medical facilities to college support, Southwest Florida institutions will benefit to the tune of millions in supplemental appropriations.
With the release of the so-called “sprinkle list,” Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport has another major reason to celebrate. It will receive $2.5 million for an aviation tech school at the airport. That’s on top of $21.5 million that the fastest growing airport in America was already set to receive for a terminal expansion.
But drivers in the Sarasota-Bradenton area also scored in sprinkles. The Senate supplemental budget drops $2 million on the Bradenton Beach State Road 789 Main and Secondary Powerline Removal Project.
Another $500,000 will go to construct a pedestrian overpass over U.S. 41 in Palmetto to allow pedestrians and cyclists, including students at a middle school there, to safely cross the highway. That was an effort sponsored by Rep. Will Robinson, a Bradenton Republican.
The State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota landed $2.5 million in operating support out of House supplemental funding.
Both The House and Senate get millions in tax revenue to play with near the end of budget negotiations. That money is spread across different projects in what’s known in legislative parlance as the “sprinkle list.”
The release of the list Wednesday night is a sign budget negotiations are wrapped and that the Legislature will hit its new planned end date of Monday, March 14.
Meanwhile, the House chipped in $250,000 for The Bay waterfront project in Sarasota. The Senate also will rain $300,000 onto St. Armands Circle in Sarasota for streetscape improvements.
First Step of Florida in Sarasota landed $675,180 for a 24-hour intake access center, a top priority of Sen. Joe Gruters and Rep. Fiona McFarland, both Sarasota Republicans. The agency provides affordable, evidence-based behavioral health care services to children and families.
Further south, $706,024 will go to the Collier Central Receiving Center, a priority of future Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, a Naples Republican. The system would provide crisis assessment, intervention and referral services with crisis stabilization beds for youth and adults in order to provide centralized access to mental health and substance use services for the community. Collier County has no central receiving system for youth or adults, a funding request states.
Both the House and Senate get millions in tax revenue to play with near the end of budget negotiations. That money is spread across different projects in what’s known in legislative parlance as the “sprinkle list.”
The House and Senate released their “sprinkle lists” Wednesday evening. Leaders agreed on $759 million for local projects.
The release of the list is a sign budget negotiations are wrapped and the Legislature will hit its new planned end date of Monday, March 14.
